My first Friday favourite for today (it’s actually Saturday morning here) is new wordpress blogger and long-time poet Tim Heffernan. Tim is re-publishing some of his wonderful poetry on his new wordpress site. Well worth a visit and a follow. The South Coast Writers Centre published his poem ‘at wagga beach‘ in the 2023 anthology – 34-37 Degrees South where you can hear Tim reading.

...seeking
shade those summers we unfurled our towels under
the red gums down at the beach where the river’s
curve stopped the sand. 

While we’re on the South Coast Writers Centre (and this one is largely for Australian readers), my favourite writers centre is having a fundraising drive at the moment – through Chuffed.org – The fundraiser is to help support programs for new writers as well as our hardship program for writers in financial difficulty. There’s some wonderful ‘perks’ available – rare books, foodie packages, lunch with the Director – and every dollar donated helps new writers find their voice.

Finally, a favourite poem. Christmas and the festive season isn’t a great time for everyone (I was en-snotted and isolating having caught COVID for the first time), so I thought I’d share this witty wry poem from Czech writer Miroslav Holub

Brief reflection on killing the Christmas carp

You take a kitchen-mallet
and a knife
and hit
the right spot, so it doesn’t jerk, for
jerking means only complications and reduces profit.

...And Christmas peers from windows, creeps along the ground
and splashes in barrels.

Such is the law of happiness...

I am just wondering if the carp is the right creature.

A far better creature surely would be one
which—stretched out—held flat—pinned down—
would turn its blue eye
on the mallet, the knife, the purse, the paper,
the watchers and the chimneys
and Christmas,

And quickly

say something. For instance

These are my happiest days; these are my golden days...

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Image c/- Bong Grit on Flickr. And to help with your happiness this morning here’s Italian-British folkloriste painter, academic Olivia Chaney with Aupres de ma blonde (which translates roughly to ‘[walking] next to my girlfriend’) a French traditional dating to the 17th Century. (youtubers)